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Schaffenberger was born on a farm in the Thuringian Forest, Germany, where, as a boy, he ". . . tended geese, herded goats, and hoed potatoes."[3] Emigrating to America as a 7-year-old (first to Hartford, Connecticut, and then to New York City),[3] he eventually won a scholarship to the Pratt Institute.[3] After graduation, he joined Jack Binder's studio in 1941, where he worked on key Fawcett titles including Captain Marvel, Bulletman, and Ibis.

Schaffenberger returned to the world of professional sequential art soon after war's end. He resumed his work for the Captain Marvel family of titles, and expanded his reach to an even more diverse group of publishing houses, including EC, Gilberton, Premier Magazines, American Comics Group, and Marvel Comics. At Gilberton, Schaffenberger provided the interior art for Classics Illustrated No. 119, Soldiers of Fortune (May 1954).[4]

An example of Schaffenberger's art: young Ma and Pa Kent, from The New Adventures of Superboy #1 (Jan. 1980).

In 1957 Otto Binder recruited Schaffenberger to DC to work on the Superman family. He stayed at DC for the next 30 years, making an especially large contribution to the development of Lois Lane. In this capacity, he was the lead artist on the book, Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane, for the entirety of its first decade. Indeed, Schaffenberger's rendition of Lane became cited by many[5][6] as the "definitive" version of the character, and Schaffenberger was often asked by DC editor Mort Weisinger to redraw other artists' depictions of Lois Lane in other DC titles where she appeared.[6]Catwoman made her appearance in the Silver Age of Comic Books in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #70 (Nov. 1966) in a story drawn by Schaffenberger.[7] In issue #80 (Jan. 1968), Schaffenberger updated the character's fashions to a then-more contemporary look.[8]

He was essentially fired from DC in 1970 for helping to organize other artists to protest bad working conditions.[9] He then briefly freelanced and worked for Marvel, but returned to DC in 1972.

When, in the 1970s, DC acquired the rights to the Marvel Family, Schaffenberger was one of the key players in the revival of those characters. The late 1970s saw him contribute well outside the Superman family of titles, including short-lived runs on titles like Wonder Woman and The Super Friends.

Schaffenberger and his wife, the former Dorothy Bates Watson,[11] who married in Englewood, New Jersey, on March 30, 1946,[12] had two children, Susan and her three-years-younger brother, Karl.[13] The family lived for four decades in the same house in River Edge, New Jersey, before moving in 1989.[14]

^Manning, Matthew K. "1980s" in Dolan, p. 186: "After recently departing the pages of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Superboy was free to pursue his own adventures...in this premiere issue written by Cary Bates and illustrated by Kurt Schaffenberger."